Politics

When Johan Booysen hears that the new Provincial Police Chief takes backhanders from a Durban businessman, he decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. But the evidence becomes impossible to ignore and he soon gets dragged down the corridors of power and politics into a web of intrigue, deceit and betrayal that, at times, he has trouble making sense of.

The first nine months of Donald Trump’s term were stormy, outrageous – and absolutely mesmerising. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself.

Wimbledon Men’s Singles Winner for 2015 and one of the best tennis players in the world, Novak Djokovic, is also the ambassador to Serbia, which is a challenging role considering the country’s role in the Yugoslav Wars of the 90s. Chris Bowers writes a satisfyingly comprehensive biography that includes a very personal history of the champion – his modest beginnings, his relationship with his father, his rise in the sport – and sets this against an account of the country, the aftermath of its history and the hopes and aspirations of the Serbian people.

The story of a “rogue unit” operating within the South African Revenue Service (SARS) became entrenched in the public mind following a succession of sensational reports published by the Sunday Times in 2014. The unit, the reports claimed, had carried out a series of illegal spook operations: they had spied on President Jacob Zuma, run a brothel, illegally bought spyware and entered into unlawful tax settlements.

The Guptas, arguably South Africa’s most infamous family, have dominated news headlines for many years. But the landing of a commercial airliner packed with wedding guests at Air Force Base Waterkloof in 2013 sparked the most severe onslaught of public outrage the politically connected family had endured up to that fateful day.

What if everything we thought we knew about history was wrong? From Niall Ferguson, the global bestselling author of Empire, The Ascent of Money and Civilization, this is a whole new way of imagining the world.

In Afghanistan the birth of a son is cause for celebration, and often the arrival of a daughter is mourned as a misfortune. Bacha posh translated is ‘dressed up like a boy’. Award-winning investigative journalist Jenny Nordberg conducted a five-year study in Afghanistan of this hidden custom, where bacha posh girls are raised and presented to the world as boys until adulthood.

In 1977 R W Johnson published a book with the same title pertaining to the apartheid government. Now he poses the same question to the ANC. He provides a logical, fascinating analysis (even if it’s a horrified fascination) of the last 20 years, the nature of the ANC and Zuma’s rule, and the resulting backward slide of our country towards complete bankruptcy.